Nov 23, 2009

Boulder, Broomfield retailers banking on the holidaysBy Alicia WallaceDailyCamera.com

The weeks between Thanksgiving to Christmas are a big deal to Crawdaddy’s Toys in Lafayette.

The holiday shopping season typically accounts for about 25 percent of the family-operated store’s annual sales, said Jerome Crawford, who owns store off 95th Street and Arapahoe Road with his wife, Janet.

However, after last year’s “rough” Christmas shopping season and the “tough” months that followed, the coming weeks will be especially key for the 7-year-old toy shop, he said.

“In the specialty toy market, usually it’s in December when you’re either going to go into the black or you’re not,” he said. “Because it’s been such a tough year, our estimate is … it’ll take the entire holiday season to break even this year.”

But despite being run ragged by the recession and its effect on consumers, some businesses such as Crawdaddy’s have higher hopes that while this holiday season might not be as bountiful as years’ past, it at least should be better than last year.

“Even though our sales will be down, our core customers aren’t going anywhere,” Crawford said.

Lauren Grimditch, general manager of the Art Mart gift shop on the Pearl Street Mall in Boulder, said she’s optimistic because November sales had a strong showing.

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